


Elder Sensibilities

by Okadiah



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Family, Five being a grumpy lonely old man, Gen, His siblings reminding him why he wanted them back, Set sometime toward the end of season 2, family hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:53:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26397460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okadiah/pseuds/Okadiah
Summary: Five had given up a lot to get back to and save his family, so it's hard sometimes to listen to his siblings lament what they have to give up to get their lives back in 2019. He wonders if it was all worth it.They remind him that it was.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Allison Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Luther Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 8
Kudos: 163





	Elder Sensibilities

**Author's Note:**

> This might never happen in the show, but whatever. I thought the old man needed a family hug so I gave it to him. He's been through a lot after all.
> 
> Enjoy!

Five tilted his head back and trained his eyes on the ceiling instead of his _moronic_ siblings as they once again let him down and failed to listen to _simple_ common sense.

Rage boiled within his chest, and how could it not? He could’ve gotten them all home, back in their proper time. They could’ve all been _done_ with this. The time travel, the apocalypse, the Commission, the fighting and killing. _He_ could have been done with it.

And yet here he was, listening to the rest of his most esteemed Umbrella Academy siblings bicker. It had been this way for hours now as they tried to determine what they needed to do next, ignoring his words of wisdom to instead complain about the lives they were leaving now, the people and movements that they were leaving. Their father _again_.

It infuriated him.

Of course, that wasn’t anything new. Frankly, he was always infuriated by his brothers and sisters and how incredibly _good_ they were are ruining everything. But this? It hit a little too close to home. They were worried about the lives they had? The people they were leaving behind? The father that left them all with more daddy-issues than had to exist in the whole of the space-time continuum?

How many times had _he_ had to leave behind those he’d cared about and the lives he’d had?

All right. Maybe he’d counted, and the answer was his name. Five. Five times. Once with his family when he’d been thirteen, second with Dolores when the Handler had come for him. Third had been his older life and older body when he’d jumped to 2019. Fourth had been Dolores again.

And fifth? Abandoning his family to a nuclear apocalypse so he could save them again _from_ said apocalypse.

Didn’t they realize that there was nothing they could possibly lose that would ever amount to everything he already had?

It was a selfish thought, he knew, and Five took a deep breath in an effort to cool his rising temper. It was moments like these when he missed Dolores more than he could bear, her and her calm wisdom. He hadn’t missed the way the others looked at him when he’d found Dolores again in 2019, nor had he missed the way they poked jokes about her when they thought he wasn’t paying attention. He knew what they saw. A mannequin. A thing. They thought he was crazy.

They’d never spent their lives completely alone, isolated in a dead world with nothing and no one to keep him sane and sensible. No one except a beautiful mannequin. Nothing and no one except Dolores.

He might _be_ a bit crazy, he’d give them that. But he was sensible. Rational. He was mature, and if he’d had to crack a little to stay that way? He didn’t care. Not when he’d had Dolores. Not when she’d _been_ there for him when everyone else had gotten themselves killed by the moon.

And he’d loved her. He’d loved her more than anything. She’d been everything to him.

And twice he’d given her up for these children. The siblings he’d missed more than he could bear.

“I need air,” he suddenly said, his barely controlled rage threatening to bubble high in his chest, spill out, and before he could hear a _single_ thing more, he’d teleported to the roof. It was dark out and the dim lights from Dallas’s streets didn’t begin to touch up here. It was even easier to ignore everything — the life, the sound, the lights, the _everything —_ when he turned his eyes skywards and took in the stars.

It never failed. The others didn’t know, didn’t realize — the Commission hadn’t known either — but there were times ... times when his fuse was a little shorter, when he was irritated, frustrated, pained, lonely that he almost _missed_ the world the apocalypse had left behind. He’d been alone, that was true. He’d gone a bit insane and that was also true. He’d had to eat roaches and learn how to work through unfathomable pain and confusion to survive.

But he’d never had to deal with _this_. All these _people_.

He’d missed them, that was true — God, he’d missed them. When he’d left to prove their father wrong, the Umbrella Academy and what he was leaving behind hadn’t even graced his thoughts, not until he was stuck and it was too late. A day hadn’t gone by after that when he hadn’t thought about his family. About his home. About how their father had been irritatingly _right_. About everything.

But it had been ... quiet. Peaceful, even, in an end-of-the-world kind of way. He’d done as he’d liked as he liked. Survived by his own wit and skill. For so long it had been only him and Dolores, and sure, they’d had their fights — what couple hadn’t? — but they’d always made up and been a team. They’d understood each other _to the core_. It had been hard and it had been lonely, but in some ways post-apocalypse living hadn’t been stressful. Just ... grind-y and quiet.

Those simpler times were where he went mentally when he needed to find what little inner-peace he had. Staring at the sky, the endless, unchanging sky, helped him do that. Looking up at the night, he could almost transport himself back to that time. Could practically feel his abilities stretch forward in time. All he had to do was _will_ it, and he’d be there again.

No apocalypses to figure out how to stop. No annoying, childish, _moronic_ siblings to heard like cats and keep alive. It could be just him and Dolores again. Them against the rest of the dead world. Them surviving.

Them alone.

Five let out a stiff, slow breath. Clenched his hands a few times in his pockets, and once again wondered if it would be worth it. He could just be ... gone.

“You look lonely, old man!”

Arms abruptly slipped around his body, lifting him — _manhandling him_ — into the air. It was only because his subconscious had registered the distinctive scent of weed first that he hadn’t outright _murdered_ Klaus as the tall idiot smiled and crowded into him. _Cuddling_ him.

“See?” Klaus said with that stupid dopey grin of his. “Isn’t this nice?”

“What the _hell_ do you think you’re doing?” Five demanded, irritation and anger once again flaring from the lower levels they’d dropped to in his stillness. "Get off of me you _idiot—!_ "

"We're Team Zero, Five!" Diego said with a grin, arms wrapping around him from the other side, wild hair tickling Five's cheek. "You might be fine with going off on your own right now, but we're not."

Bigger, beefier, inhuman arms encircled all of them and this time when he was lifted, he wasn't the only one. Klaus laughed giddily and Diego grunted before laughing too and Five _fumed_ as he glowered at Luther. The big ape only smiled.

"We need you with us, Five."

He scowled. "I wasn't going anywhere, _obviously—!_ "

"Not really that obvious," Allison said as she curled into the gap Klaus and Luther made so she could hold onto Five too. Now his glower redirected to Allison. Already he was reaching with his intent, thinking of somewhere, _anywhere_ to teleport to, but stopped when she arched a brow. "Don't make me Rumor you."

Five seethed under the hold of his four most moronic siblings as they held on tight, and it was then that they all noticed the soft laugh that came from Vanya who watched them a few feet away.

"You guys look ridiculous."

He couldn't help the way the world always quieted a little when he looked at her there, small and in oversized flannel. His sister. His family. His favorite sibling – arguably the most powerful of them all – was standing there alone, just like she always was. Alone even with the rest of the family there.

That, Five suddenly realized, had to be a loneliness worse than any he'd ever had to endure, even when he'd been the only one left alive in the world.

Without thinking about it, Five teleported out of the pile-on, grabbed Vanya, then reappeared back in. The others gasped and shouted and shifted, but in no time the space was made for the both of them, Vanya right in the middle.

"If I've got to endure this nonsense, so do you," he grunted. She gaped, hesitant and small and uncertain after a lifetime spent on the outside looking in.

"But I'm not—"

"Yes," Five said, knowing exactly what she was about to say and refusing to let her say it. "You are."

"Family cuddle-puddle," Klaus sighed as he cuddled in tighter. "I just know Ben would be a part of this if he could."

"Yeah," Vanya said softly before she gave a tentative smile, and he felt some of his annoyance and anger melt away into quiet triumph at the sight of it. "He would have."

"This is nice," Allison said as she leaned her head against Luther and Klaus's shoulders.

"We should've done this more," Luther said as his big arms held them all. "All of us. Together."

"Team Zero," Diego reiterated, and Five for one rolled his eyes. Team Zero. The Umbrella Academy. The Hargreeves Siblings. His irritating family.

As much as they annoyed him and tested just how much of a murdering psycho he really was, he’d _missed_ this. His family. The family he’d had back for barely more than two weeks after over forty years away. Alone.

He'd missed them.

But that didn't mean he was comfortable with all this ... affection, and he endured a second longer before teleporting out of the huddle and a safe distance away. The cooler air swept away the oppressive heat that had started to build and he smoothed his hair and straightened his jacket while the kids all groaned behind him.

He smirked.

"Well, isn't this adorable."

"It was even _more_ adorable when you were in here with us," Klaus pouted.

"It's team bonding," Luther said.

"As if more hugs would've solved more of our problems," Allison said with a small smile. "Well, it might've with Diego."

"I don't know about you, but I happen to solve _all_ of our problems."

The bickering that arose from that one statement once again threatened to put them all back where they'd been inside, but it _was_ different this time. More lighthearted. Understanding and united despite everything their father had done to them.

The others argued but Vanya caught his eyes and smiled like she knew what he'd done. And maybe his eyes softened. Maybe his smile gentled just a little bit too.

They were a family, after all. And he _had_ sacrificed a lot for them. A lot for little moments like this. Moments he'd dreamed about when decades passed with only Dolores to talk to.

He thought that, if she were here now, she'd have known that despite the headache and frustration and homicidal rage that never seemed to let up while he was around his siblings ... this was everything he'd ever wanted. His family.

And he would do whatever it took to protect it.


End file.
